(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia is open to a prisoner swap for Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who’s been detained for over 300 days in the country.
In an interview published on his website on Thursday, former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson pressed Putin if he was willing to release Gershkovich as a sign of decency, to which Putin said he believed “an agreement can be reached.”
“We have done so many gestures of goodwill out of decency that I think we have run out of them,” Putin said.
Carlson went on to ask Putin about his country imprisoning the reporter.
“The guy is obviously not a spy, he’s a kid … and maybe he was breaking your law in some way, but he’s not a super spy. … He’s being held hostage,” Carlson said to Putin. “Maybe it’s not fair to ask for an exchange.”
In the two-hour interview that took place at the Kremlin, the Russian president said a prisoner swap was being discussed between the United States and Russian special services.
Putin didn’t specify who Russia was seeking in the swap but referred to a person serving a sentence in an allied country of the U.S.
Russia has previously expressed interest in a deal that would secure the release of Russian citizen Vadim Krasikov, a convicted assassin who has been serving a life sentence in Germany since 2019.
“I do not rule out that the person you refer to, Mr. Gershkovich, may return to his motherland,” Putin said. “At the end of the day, it does not make sense to keep him in prison in Russia. We want the U.S. special services to think about how they can contribute to achieving the goals our special services are pursuing.”
Gershkovich has now been in Russian detention for over 10 months, held on spying charges that The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. and dozens of international media organizations have condemned as false.
Gershkovich lost his third appeal in October 2023 and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
In a statement released Thursday evening, the Wall Street Journal said, “Evan is a journalist, and journalism is not a crime. Any portrayal to the contrary is total fiction. Evan was unjustly arrested and has been wrongfully detained by Russia for nearly a year for doing his job, and we continue to demand his immediate release.”
“We’re encouraged to see Russia’s desire for a deal that brings Evan home, and we hope this will lead to his rapid release and return to his family and our newsroom,” the statement continued.
Gershkovich who grew up in New Jersey to Russian-speaking Jewish emigres, has been a Moscow correspondent since 2017, working first for The Moscow Times and Agence France Presse before joining the Journal in 2022.
ABC News’ Patrick Reeval and William Gretsky contributed to this report.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo speaks during the UK Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, in central England, on November 1, 2023. (Photo by Leon Neal / POOL / AFP)
(WASHINGTON) — Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said she is “very worried” about artificial intelligence being used nefariously in the 2024 election, she told reporters at a press conference in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.
“AI can do amazing things and AI can disrupt our elections, here and around the world,” she said. “We’re already starting to see it.”
Raimondo was asked by ABC News about the robocall sent on the day of the New Hampshire primary purporting to be from President Biden and spreading misinformation about voting times.
She said the government is going to work “extensively” to start putting out AI framework that helps people — including journalists — be able to decipher what is real and what is fake.
The Commerce Secretary added that AI companies want to do the right thing based on her conversations with them.
“Am I worried? Yes,” she said. “Do I think we have the tools to protect our election and our democracy? Yes. Do I feel based on my interactions with the private sector that they want to do the right thing? By and large, Yes. It’s a big threat.”
As it relates to China and AI, Raimondo said “we have to stay ahead of trends.”
On Thursday, the Commerce Department put together a consortium of government and private companies to tackle the challenges of AI.
“This is a big deal,” Raimondo said. “This is the largest collection of frontline AI developers, users, researchers and interested groups in the world. In this consortia, which we’re starting off with more than 200 members, we have Fortune 500 companies, academic teams, nonprofit organizations and government agencies joined forces to focus on the research and development necessary to enable safe and trustworthy AI systems.”
Raimondo said she is frequently asked if AI will “eliminate the human race.”
She pushes back on that, saying right now we are in control and in the “early innings.”
“We are in charge of how we develop and use and regulate AI. So I feel that way about the election. And it’s on us, right now, to do the right things.”
(NEW YORK) — Honda and Acura recalled a combined 750,000 cars this week over an airbag defect, becoming the latest in a series of recalls this year that has touched carmakers from Tesla to Ford.
The near-daily headlines warning of a recall amount to more than an eye-catching coincidence.
Car recalls have surged in recent years, owing largely to the increased complexity of vehicles replete with electronic components that increase the likelihood of a malfunction, according to an ABC News analysis of government data and interviews with experts.
The average number of car recalls each year jumped 46% over a 10-year period ending in 2022, when compared with the average over the preceding 10 years, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data shows.
Over the five years ending in 2022, the U.S. averaged more than 1,000 car recalls each year, or about 27 per day, the data shows. Until 2016, the U.S. had not exceeded 1,000 car recalls in any year going back to at least 2002.
“More complicated vehicles definitely result in more issues,” Ivan Drury, an auto analyst at data firm Edmunds, told ABC News.
“Vehicles have advanced to a degree we’ve never seen before,” Drury added, citing high-tech features such as self-driving capability and back-up cameras. “It’s such a wide swathe of issues that recalls cover that you’re going to see this more and more.”
In December, for instance, Toyota recalled 1.12 million vehicles worldwide because a sensor malfunction could cause the airbag to deploy incorrectly.
The same month, Tesla recalled about 2 million cars over a safety issue tied to its autopilot system. The company announced an additional recall last week of 2.2 million vehicles over the font size on its warning lights.
“Let’s just think about 20 years ago, we were just getting into airbags becoming standard,” Brian Moody, executive editor at Autotrader, told ABC News. “A lot of these complex pieces of equipment and technology today have to work together to get a better experience for the consumer.”
Tom McParland, operator of the vehicle-buying service Automatch Consulting, echoed the view.
“As you add more components to vehicles, as vehicles get more tech heavy, you’re going to have more failure points,” McParland said.
The spike in car recalls should not necessarily worry consumers, since defects range widely in severity. The uptick in recall announcements, they added, illustrates a regulatory system essentially working as intended.
“A lot of these recalls don’t fall under a stop-sale order or tell you to stop driving your car,” Drury said. “The stuff that’s more minor might not catch your attention but you do want to get it fixed.”
Repairs undertaken in response to a recall are free of charge to the car owner, the experts said. When purchasing a used car, prospective buyers can check online whether the car received repairs in response to a possible recall.
Due to the complexity and speed of auto production nowadays, recalls offer a necessary opportunity for fixes to problems that go undiscovered before a car hits the road, Moody said.
“In the end, it’s good for consumers that we have a recall system,” he added.
US President Joe Biden speaks in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. Photographer: Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden came out with a fiery defense against Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report that questioned his mental acuity and suggested his memory could be “hazy.”
Speaking from the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House on Thursday night, Biden addressed the issue, stating, “I know what the hell I’m doing.”
On Thursday, Biden’s memory was cited as one of the reasons the Justice Department wouldn’t be filing charges against the president for his handling of classified documents. In Hur’s report, he described Biden’s mental fitness and ability to recall key moments of his political career, as sparse, apparently “hazy” and, in one interaction, claiming the president could not recall “even within several years” when his oldest son had died.
On Thursday night, Biden took particular issue with that comment about the death of his son, Beau Biden.
“How in the hell dare he raise that? Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself, it wasn’t any of their damn business,” Biden said.
“I don’t need anyone to remind me when he passed away, or that he passed away,” he continued.
When asked by one reporter if his memory has gotten worse over time, Biden insisted his memory is “fine.”
“My memory — take a look at what I’ve done since I’ve become president. None of you thought I could pass any of the things I got passed. How’d that happen?” he said.
In a back and forth with another journalist who brought up concerns over his age and mental acuity, and why Biden feels he is the one to beat former President Donald Trump in a general election for the presidency, Biden said he was the “most qualified person in this country to be President of the United States,” and that it was to “finish the job” he started.
Biden said the special counsel’s only role was whether or not to move forward with charges, but as for “any extraneous commentary, they don’t know what they’re talking about. It has no place in this report,” he said.
“The bottom line is the matter is now closed, and we can continue what I’ve always focused on, my job of being President of the United States of America,” he added.
But even as President Biden tried to downplay concerns about his mental acuity, he had yet another misstep: Referring to the President of Egypt as the President of Mexico.
“I think that, as you know, initially, the President of Mexico, el-Sisi, did not want to open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in,” he said, referring to the border between Egypt and Gaza.
When Biden was asked by a reporter if there was anything he would do differently now that the investigation has concluded, the president said he wished he “had paid more attention to how the documents were being moved and where. I thought they were being moved to the archives. I thought all was being moved. That’s what I thought.
“I take responsibility for not having seen exactly what my staff was doing,” he added.
Biden did address the special counsel, laying out the differences between his handling of classified documents and the investigation into former President Donald Trump, praising the decision to include in the report information on why the former president was indicted and he wasn’t. But he said it was “misleading” and “just plain wrong” that the report concludes that Biden willfully retained documents.
Spokespeople for both Special Counsel Hur and Attorney General Merrick Garland declined to comment on Biden’s remarks when reached by ABC News.
(WASHINGTON) — As former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley continues on in her quest to try to take down former President Donald Trump in the Republican nominating race, after three straight losses so far, she is focusing on states where non-Republicans can vote — and targeting voters outside of a GOP base that still overwhelmingly favors her rival.
“We want to bring in as many people as we can,” Haley told ABC News. “I’m going to be serving everybody, so whoever cares enough about this election and wants to be involved? We want their support.”
Despite her repeated defeats, Haley has described her campaign against Trump as about building “momentum” on her way to South Carolina’s Feb. 24 primary and touted her increasing numbers from Iowa to New Hampshire, the first two states to vote for the 2024 Republican nomination.
After Haley placed a distant third in the Iowa caucuses in January, she got to 43% in New Hampshire about a week later.
Exit polls in New Hampshire showed her doing especially well with undeclared voters, who were able to vote in the Republican primary. She also got strong backing from self-described moderates, just as she did in the Iowa caucuses, where she won about one-third of self-described independents, exit polling found.
By contrast, Trump has so far handily beaten her with conservative and evangelical voters. For example, in Tuesday’s primary in Nevada, in which only registered Republicans can vote, Haley only got 30% of the vote and actually lost out to the quirky option “none of these candidates.”
And while South Carolina’s open primary means registered voters are able to cast their ballot in either the Democratic or GOP primaries regardless of their party — but not both — the state has many more active Republican voters than Democratic ones. And it doesn’t have New Hampshire’s tradition of independent voters swinging back and forth.
Polling still has Trump ahead of Haley in South Carolina by more than 30 points, according to 538.
The entrance and exit polling from Iowa and New Hampshire also shows Haley handily lost to Trump with purely Republican-identified voters.
Haley’s campaign is making it clear that her plan to keep competing against Trump includes attracting a wider range of voters — not just in South Carolina’s open primary but in the 10 more states with open and semi-open primaries coming up in the next month as well. (Unlike open primaries, semi-open primaries require voters to cast a party-specific ballot when they vote. In a third kind of primary, semi-closed, voters must affiliate with a party before casting their ballot.)
Although the Haley campaign is not outwardly saying they are targeting Democrats, it’s not stopping some of those voters from considering supporting her.
Dale Bowling and Georgia Koss, who said they have supported Democratic presidential candidates since the ’90s, told ABC News that they’re planning on voting for Haley in South Carolina’s GOP primary after attending a rally for her in Conway in late January.
The two women both voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 but are now undecided, they said. They’re concerned with the president’s age and believe it’s time for new blood in the White House.
“I think Biden’s a little too old, honestly,” Bowling told ABC News.
“I just think that we need somebody young and fresh, lots of new ideas,” Koss added.
After hearing Haley speak, the pair told ABC News that they would be voting for her in the state’s GOP primary.
Haley’s campaign insists they see opportunity in trying to persuade the many non-primary voters who identify as Republicans but may not identify as the highly engaged members of their party’s base, who reliably turn out for every vote.
Primaries have historically low turnouts, especially relative to general elections.
“We are looking primarily at independents who can participate in primaries and we are also looking at expanding the people who do participate in these primaries,” Haley’s campaign manager, Betsy Ankney, told reporters on Monday. “There are a lot of general election Republican voters who do not participate in primaries typically.”
Can that boost Haley’s chances? Some aren’t persuaded.
“The Trump phenomenon is still very much a thing in South Carolina,” Mark Sanford, a former South Carolina congressman and governor who preceded Haley in office, told ABC News. “The demographics of the base South Carolina Republican voter align well with the Trump voter and may be one and the same.”
Sanford lost the 2018 GOP primary for his Charleston-area congressional seat to a Trump-backed opponent, after he repeatedly criticized Trump’s fiscal policies.
“He’s become a proxy going against the system. And a lot of rank-and-file Republican types feel like the system has failed them,” Sanford added. “Never mind the fact that Trump didn’t do anything about the debt when he was there, they see him as someone who will fight for them and fight against a system rigged against them.”
Activists urge a vote for Haley is a vote against Trump
For some voters and activists, their goal for this election cycle is to ensure that Trump never returns to the White House, leading them to try to block his path to the Oval Office in the primary by putting all of their efforts behind Haley.
Primary Pivot, an anti-Trump group that describes itself as focused on democracy, has been encouraging voters across the political spectrum to vote for Haley in open and semi-open GOP primaries as the field has essentially narrowed to a two-person race.
Robert Schwartz, who leads Primary Pivot, told ABC News that although he’s wary of Haley’s chances of beating Trump in South Carolina, he hopes she “survives” so she can stay in the race to compete in more “favorable states.”
And Primary Pivot is still investing resources in South Carolina, including having staffers on the ground and reaching out to voters of different political ideologies to support Haley.
The group said they have sent out more than 200,000 text messages encouraging people to think about their options, suggesting that Biden would win the state’s Democratic primary and that the Republican race is more competitive.
“[Haley] is catching up in the polls. Please make your vote count,” the texts read.
Schwartz told ABC News they plan on setting aside resources for several states leading up to Super Tuesday on March 5, when many states will hold simultaneous primaries.
Kelley Johnson a Democrat from Summerville, South Carolina, said she thinks a general election without Trump would allow voters to focus on the issues.
“I think it’s good for the country, because it’ll be a much more civil election,” Johnson told ABC News. “It’ll be fought on the policies rather than who’s just listening to Trump and trying to figure out what is going to come out of his mouth next.”
But some Democrats who don’t want to see a Republican win the election are critical of this strategy, because of how recent polling shows Haley beating Biden in a hypothetical matchup in the general election.
In a recent Quinnipiac poll, for example, Haley would defeat Biden 47-42%.
“I very much hope that it is just a one-on-one match between Biden and Donald Trump. Because I feel like it gives Joe Biden the best chance to prevail,” said Waring Hewe Jr., a voter from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
Jaunita Miton from Summerville, South Carolina said that although Haley brings up some valid issues, she, too, would prefer Biden to face Trump.
“If I have to choose obviously, I’m gonna choose the weaker candidate and that’s Trump,” Miton said.
But 21-year-old student Lilli Taylor, of Columbia, South Carolina, who voted for Biden in 2020, said not everyone is thinking that way.
“I do have a lot of friends who identify as Democrats or liberals, but a lot of them do like Nikki and so it’s not necessarily just a vote against Trump,” Taylor said. “I think a lot of them generally do see a lot of potential in Nikki.”
‘I don’t know what state she can win’
Some major Democrats have played down the chance that Democratic voters could really sway the course of the Republican primary race against Trump.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a surrogate for Biden’s reelection campaign, told ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl in a recent interview that he doesn’t believe Haley can win over enough non-Republican voters to win anywhere.
“We’ve seen that game played over and over and over and over again. … I just don’t think you’re going to stack enough votes in that — I don’t know what state she can win, including her own state,” Newsom said.
But, he suggested, Haley sticking in the race and going after Trump could have other ramifications.
“Watching her … take shots at Trump, that didn’t leave me wanting. I was enjoying that. Meaning, she was saying a lot of the same things I’ve been saying about Trump,” Newsom said, “and so I don’t think it’s unhealthy in that respect.”
(DETROIT) — Record warm winter weather is having severe ramifications on the ice cover that typically engulfs the Great Lakes at this time of year.
Just 5.9% of the Great Lakes are currently covered with ice compared to an average of about 40% for this time of year, according to the latest Great Lakes ice analysis by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Warmer winters increase the likelihood of ice-free lakes, and the upper Midwest has experienced some of the nation’s strongest winter warming trends, according to James Kessler, a physical scientists for NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab, and Alisa Young, a climate scientist for the lab.
When comparing the average wintertime temperatures of 2002 to 2021 with the first half of the century, it is clear that the upper Midwest has experienced some of the nation’s strongest warming trends, Kessler and Young told ABC News.
Despite year-to-year variability, long-term records show a 25% decrease in annual maxima of ice cover as well as a trend toward fewer frozen days across the Great Lakes since 1973, according to data compiled by the Fifth National Climate Assessment.
The Great Lakes aren’t alone. Across the Northern Hemisphere, lakes are freezing later in winter and thawing earlier in spring, research shows.
On Tuesday, Copernicus, the European Union’s climate change service, said this past January was the warmest January ever globally, continuing an eight-month trend of record-warmest months.
Declining lake ice can influence water levels and lake-effect snow and has cascading impacts on cultural heritage, ecosystems and recreation.
In January, the John Beargrease Sled Dog marathon, one of the most beloved dog sled competitions in the Midwest, was canceled due to lack of snow.
The race typically kicks off in Duluth, Minnesota, which sits adjacent to Lake Superior.
Last spring the Niagara Falls boat tour opened at the earliest date in history — in mid-March — due to the lack of buildup of ice on Lake Erie.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden addressed a harsh report from special counsel Robert Hur on his classified documents probe, highlighting differences between his case and that of former President Donald Trump.
“Bottom line is the special counsel in my case decided against moving forward with any charges,” he said. “And this matter is now closed.”
Trump was indicted last year over his handling of classified documents. He has pleaded not guilty to the 40 charges, which include counts of willful retention of national defense information and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Biden made the remarks less than two hours after the 388-page report was made public. In it, the special counsel said he would not be recommending charges against Biden despite evidence that he “willfully retained” materials.
Biden, speaking at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference in Virginia, tried to put the best face on the politically damaging report that cited his advanced age and poor memory, saying he was “pleased” to see Hur reach his conclusion not to pursue charges after what Biden described as an “exhaustive” investigation spanning back to his time in the Senate in the 1970s.
“I was especially pleased to see the special counsel made clear the stark differences between this case and Donald Trump,” Biden said, going on to quote from the report itself.
Biden read aloud one portion of the special counsel report that read: “Most notably, after being given multiple chances to return classified documents and avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite. According to the indictment, he not only refused to return documents for many months, he also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then lie about it. In contrast, Mr. Biden turned in classified documents to the National Archives, the Department of Justice, consented to a search of multiple locations, including his homes and sat for a voluntary interview, and in other ways cooperated with the investigation.”
“That’s the distinction, among others,” Biden said.
(WASHINGTON) — Senators grilled chief executives from three top pharmaceutical companies over prescription drug prices during an hourslong committee hearing Thursday on Capitol Hill.
Members of both major political parties bemoaned drug prices they consider too high, but liberals and conservatives revealed differences in their views of the role played by the pharmaceutical companies.
The three CEOs — Robert M. Davis of Merck, Joaquin Duato of Johnson & Johnson and Christopher Boerner of Bristol Myers Squibb — said drug prices account for the considerable cost of research and development, as well as the ready availability of treatments in the United States.
Here are the four biggest takeaways from the CEOs’ testimony before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions:
Liberals confronted the pharmaceutical CEOs over prices, executive compensation
The testiest moments of the hearing came when liberal lawmakers challenged the pharmaceutical executives over what the senators said they viewed as high prices, invoking anecdotes of patients forced to choose between purchasing medicine or paying for essentials such as rent or food.
The senators pointed to millions of dollars in executive compensation and billions in stock buybacks and dividends as areas where the companies could trim costs and put the savings toward price reduction.
In one heated exchange, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy from Connecticut challenged Duato, accusing Johnson & Johnson of prioritizing shareholder returns over drug development.
In 2022, Murphy said, the company spent a combined $17 billion on stock buybacks and dividends compared to $14 billion on research and development.
“Can you understand that one of my constituents in Connecticut would look at those numbers and think that you care more about padding the pockets of folks who work for you and invest in you than in research and development?” Murphy said.
In response, Duato said, “Our priority is investing in R&D.”
“We have to pay dividends because it’s the only way the company can remain operational and sustainable,” Duato added. “Otherwise, if we’re not operational and sustainable, we are not able to fulfill our mission of developing medicines for patients and making them affordable.”
Senators grilled the CEOs on why the same drugs cost more in the U.S. than in other countries
Liberal lawmakers repeatedly criticized the relatively high cost of drugs in the U.S. compared to other wealthy countries such as Canada, France and Japan.
In 2022, prices for brand-name drugs in the U.S. were at least three times higher than those in 33 other wealthy nations, according to a report this month commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services.
For instance, Bristol Myers Squibb charges patients $7,100 per year for blood-clot drug Eliquis in the U.S., while the same product can be purchased for $900 in Canada and just $650 in France, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent, said.
“Does Bristol Myers Squibb make a profit selling Eliquis for $900 in Canada,” Sanders asked Boerner, the company’s CEO.
“Yes, we make a profit,” Boerner said.
“Will you commit to reducing the list price in the U.S. to the price in Canada?” Sanders asked.
In response, Boerner said, “We cannot make that commitment.” He cited the relative accessibility of drugs in the U.S. compared to Canada.
“In Canada, medicines are generally made less available and it takes oftentimes considerably longer for them to be made available,” Boerner added.
Republicans shared the concern about prices but defended drugmakers
Republican senators on the committee echoed the concern about high drug prices but largely avoided faulting the pharmaceutical companies and their executives.
“Let’s just be clear, everybody in this panel cares about the high cost of prescription drugs and wants to work on real solutions to address this,” Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said. “I don’t want the committee to delve into a CEO whack-a-mole that ends up with no serious legislation as a result.”
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican, defended the profits delivered by pharmaceutical companies in recent years, lauding their breakthrough drugs and philanthropy. Paul criticized, meanwhile, the line of questioning taken up by Democrats, who make up the majority on the committee.
“Unfortunately, this committee isn’t here to celebrate American success, instead the majority wants to drag us here to conduct a show trial to harangue companies,” Paul said.
Pharmaceutical CEOs pointed to high research and development costs, middlemen
For their part, the chief executives acknowledged the elevated price of drugs in the U.S.
However, the CEOs placed the blame on cost-intensive research and development, as well as industry middlemen known as Pharmacy Benefit Managers, or PBMs.
“Right now, we have nearly 20,000 researchers seeking breakthrough treatments,” said Davis, of Merck. The company has invested almost $160 billion in research and development since 2010, including $30 billion in 2023, Davis said.
All three CEOs aimed their ire at PBMs, third-party administrators hired by large employers and other institutions to set prices in negotiations with drugmakers.
PBMs undermine pharmaceutical companies’ efforts to ease the costs borne by patients, said Duato, of Johnson & Johnson.
“Congress should stop middlemen from taking for themselves the assistance that pharmaceutical companies intend for patients,” Duato said.
(FRESNO, Calif.) — Authorities in California’s Central Valley are asking residents to bee alert for stolen hives, which are a prime target this time of year, after nearly 100 were recently stolen from an open field.
Ninety-six beehives valued at nearly $34,000 were stolen late last month, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office said this week. The hives had been positioned in almond orchards in the Central Valley for the region’s famed almond blossom season.
“This type of crime consistently happens in Fresno County around January and February as beehives are set out for the almond bloom,” Fresno County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Tony Botti told ABC News. “Unfortunately, it is usually someone else in the industry behind it since they are familiar with handling bees. They will strike at night when the bees [are] dormant or in the rain when they are not active.”
The stolen hives, which are owned by South Dakota beekeepers, disappeared between 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 28 and 4 p.m. on Jan. 29 from a field located west of Mendota, the sheriff’s office said. They are multicolored and branded with the letters “MEB,” the sheriff’s office said.
There is no person or vehicle of interest at this time, Botti said.
A cash reward is being offered for information on the whereabouts of the hives, the sheriff’s office said.
Out-of-state beekeepers often contract with California growers to help pollinate their crops, including almond trees in the Central Valley, the sheriff’s office said.
Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen said a hive theft can be “devastating” to a beekeeper.
“You’re looking at hundreds and hundreds of dollars invested in that single hive, and you just don’t make that up,” Jacobsen told Fresno ABC station KFSN. “You don’t just go buy another box, and all of a sudden have a colony.”
Jacobsen said beekeeping is a “very extensive process,” from acquiring a queen to keeping a hive healthy over several years. Some beekeepers are using GPS and other tracking devices due to the theft threat, he said.
“Because of the high value of these hives and relative ruralness and remote areas that they’re located, unfortunately the thefts are something that we deal with quite often,” Jacobsen told the station.
Botti told KFSN that people should be suspicious of hives being loaded onto a truck now.
“This is the time of year where you should be seeing forklifts offloading hives into orchards, not necessarily putting them back onto a truck,” he told the station. “So, keep your eyes peeled. If you see somebody loading bees onto a truck, call in law enforcement and let us go and check it out to make sure that it’s legit.”
Some 80% of all U.S. almonds are produced in the Central Valley, according to the Central Valley Almond Association. The bloom occurs in February and March.
(NEW YORK) — Police continue to search for a violent mugger who met his match in a 91-year-old man he tried to rob on a New York City street.
The victim, Hyman Silverglad, was transported to St. Luke’s Hospital Medical Center with multiple injuries last week after he fought off the mugger trying to steal his wallet.
The assault took place on Feb. 1 on East 86th Street between First and Second Avenues around 10:30 a.m., local time, according to police. The suspect was captured by surveillance cameras and was last seen fleeing the scene on foot.
The NYPD’s 19th precinct released a photo of the suspect on X Wednesday, asking the public for tips locating him.
A police spokesperson told ABC News Thursday that the suspect remains at large.
In an interview with WABC in New York on Wednesday, Silverglad, and his son, James, recounted the brutal assault.
Hyman Silverglad says he was walking home from the grocery store when the assailant violently pushed him to the ground and punched him while trying to take his wallet.
However, the retired attorney from Coney Island held firm onto his wallet until the suspect fled the scene.
“He said ‘I’m from Coney Island,’ he wasn’t going to get my wallet,’ that’s what he said,” James Silverglad said of his father remaining steadfast against the attacker.
Hyman Silverglad told WABC the several fractures he sustained in the attack have left him “in agony.”
“He threw me to the ground and I have suffered at least six fractures, very bad fractures and I’m in agony,” he said. “I cannot walk, I’m in never-ending constant pain.”
James Silverglad told the outlet that before his father retired from his legal practice, he was known for lending his law expertise to those who could not afford an attorney.
“He called himself the lawyer of last resort, that if you couldn’t get anybody else, you could get him, and that’s a direct quote,” his son said.
Despite the injuries sustained in the would-be mugging, the 91-year-old maintained, “I had to fight for my life. Who wouldn’t put up a good fight?”
